Invest in Yourself

You are not the centre of the universe. But you ARE your universe.

I'm reading a book called the Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. He is the grand-daddy of value investing.

His most famous disciple is Warren Buffet. Anyways, inside the books covered a few basic things that many self-proclaimed investors do not follow when it is so easy and fundamental.

#1 - Always invest with a Margin of Safety
#2 - Expect volatility and profit from it
#3 - Know what kind of investor you are

Many investors should read up this book and you will find that things he wrote more than 50 years ago still applies today only changed due to difference in some policy changes over the years.

One of the most interesting aspect is the character, MR MARKET. In your co-op with him, his role daily is to offer daily, a price quote which you can either buy or sell to him of that business. You as an owner of business, determine if you are going to listen to him.

Not sure how many investors spend time watching The Big Bang Theory. I find that Howard Wolowitz is the definitive Mr Market. Hence, I'll picture him daily doing what Mr Market does best.

As per the title and first words of this post, invest in yourself. 24 hours a day, take an hour out to learn stuff about investing, read up happenings in the world. The next Microsoft is out there but if all you do is spend time looking for the next Microsoft, plenty of good companies will be missed out.

Below is a few websites to read up for investing particularly in the Singapore market.
The happenings/analysis:
Yahoo! Finance
Motley Fool
Dividend Warrior *always look out to find his latest postings, he has a few blogs under dividend warrior
Turtle Investor *always pool some cash into index funds, for myself, I put some money into STI ETF and Singapore Bonds Index
Hardwarezone Moneymind
Hardwarezone Stocks, Shares and Indices
The SmartLocal *interesting place with plenty of money saving tactics which is not 100% investing related

There are many more out there, especially in HWZ, there are some really insightful and educational postings from various individuals.

For doing homework:
SGX Stockfacts
Muddy Waters Research
Individual company's webpage

Reading books in encouraged, but always take into consideration the writer and his thinking. No doubt Robert Kiyosaki's book is a good read and provides excellent concepts that you can take up into your investing. But upon research, you'll find that he is always in the news linking with bankruptcy. His books to me, are more of a motivation or a side track like the "Life" section in The Straits Times. When reading books, try to always weigh the ideas in the book against your own knowledge and understanding. Do not accept it 100% and build reasons for following it. Instead, pit it against your current fundamentals and see if it is suitable to be used/adapted/rejected.

In a nutshell, whatever you are doing, always always always look up the facts. People can offer you advise and analysis, but end of the day:

You are responsible for your investments. 

fin